IN BRIEF

The 1997 Benefits Fair, featuring workshops and seminars on personal benefit options, will take place Tuesday, Oct. 21, and Wednesday, Oct. 22. The event, hosted by the Benefits Office, will include door prizes and free giveaways. Company representatives will be present.

The main fair location will be under a tent located in the courtyard area of The Vanderbilt Clinic and TVC rooms 2701-2704 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. A special feature for this year's fair will be a satellite location held at Divinity Dining from 11 a.m.to 2 p.m. on both days.

Faculty and staff members who are considering making changes to their current benefits enrollment should stop by the Benefits Office during November for Open Enrollment. During this time, eligible faculty and staff may change healthcare plan options, enroll/change dental care plans and enroll/re-enroll in a Personal Spending Account.

Please note that PSAs must be re-enrolled in every year. All changes become effective Jan. 1 for the 1998 calendar year. For more information, call the Benefits Office at 322-8330.

Three Vanderbilt students will be nominated as Luce Scholars for placement in East or Southeast Asia.

Applicants must be U.S. citizens who are graduating seniors, graduate or professional students, or recent graduates who will be no older than 29 by next Sept. 1 and have little experience in or knowledge of Asia.

The application deadline is Wednesday, Oct. 22. For more information or to pick up an application, contact International Student Services at 322-2753. International Student Services is located in F4214 Zerfoss Building.

Monologuist Spalding Gray will perform "It's a Slippery Slope" at 8 p.m. in Vanderbilt's Langford Auditorium Saturday, Oct. 25, as part of Great Performances.

Gray's funny monologues, usually delivered while sitting at a desk with nothing but a glass of water and a notebook, have given him the epithet "new wave Mark Twain."

Gray's newest monologue focuses on learning how to do something late in life, about the search for a non-ironic positive inner voice which Spalding calls his "inner cheerleader." Gray has created a series of 14 monologues which have been performed throughout the United States, Europe and Australia. His film credits also include Roland Joffe's "The Killing Fields," David Byrne's "True Stories," Ron Howard's "The Paper" and John Boorman's "Beyond Rangoon."

Tickets are $24, $22, $20; $12 for students and children; $12 for Vanderbilt faculty and staff; $6 for Vanderbilt students. Discounts are available for groups of 10 or more and children and students through college age. All tickets are available through TicketMaster at 255-9600.

Phil Ayres, former president of the Student Government Association, has had a chapter published in a new book, "So You Want to Be President -- How To Get Elected on Your Campus," by Oxendine Publishing.

Ayres, a Vanderbilt senior, is among 25 student body presidents from colleges and universities across the country whose chapters feature useful tips and insider campaign information to help college and high school students execute successful bids for office.

The Office of News and Public Affairs has added four new racks for the Vanderbilt Register on the Medical Center campus. They are located on the third floor of Medical Research Building I and the fourth floor of Medical Research Building II. The other racks are located on the second and third floor of The Vanderbilt Clinic.